stutters and creeps and pretty blue eyes
by Ski October
Summary: "He swallowed thickly past the lump in his throat, seeing so much of her smooth skin exposed." Poor Hasook. Korrasook.


_Shameless Korrasook fluff. I still intend to continue with _All I Believe In_ but I felt that some character development for these two was in order before I went any further. This promt was given to me by _XxShyxX _and is one of the handfuls of ideas I told you all she'd sent me_. _I tweaked it some, so it's not as sexy as orignally planned. Sorry for that. On a side note, I adore the way a guy reacts to seeing a girl wearing his clothes. Now, on with the show._

**DISCLAIMER: I own nothing but the plot. Kind of.**

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When Hasook strolled into the locker room later that night after his argument with Mako, he really hadn't expected anyone to be there still. In his defense, it was after midnight and usually by that time the arena had emptied and the brothers were upstairs asleep in their apartment. So, when he came in and found a girl - a pretty hot girl, if he was honest with himself - halfway through stripping off a probending uniform - _his _uniform, holy Spirits - he was more or less dumbfounded.

The girl had apparently shared his expectations of zero company for the night and was just as surprised as he was. Her dark hair was a mess, plastered with sweat to her forehead and falling into luminous blue eyes that stared at him, startled. A faint blush painted her cheeks and her mouth hung open in an 'o'. Hasook privately admitted that the image was just as alluring as it was endearing.

"Uh…" the girl began, quick to try and form a verbal response to their predicament. "Uh, I was…just - I mean, um…"

He cleared his throat and prompted gently, "You were just…?"

"I was just changing out of my uniform - or, not _my _uniform. I borrowed it for tonight, but I guess it's mine now since I'm on the team and I don't really have a uniform of my own yet and -" She shut her mouth with a soft smack, catching her rambling. "Sorry, this is just really awkward."

"No kidding, since that's _my _uniform." _His_ uniform. That this girl had been wearing all night. Spirits.

"Oh." She blinked, blushed brighter. "_Oh._"

"Yeah."

"Well, uh… I can take it back to the island to have it cleaned…" she offered, unsure.

_The island? _he wondered. Then it hit him. Air Temple Island. This was Korra. _Avatar_ Korra. The Avatar had been wearing his uniform. The Avatar had been in the process of removing his uniform from her - _shapely _- body. The Avatar was still half-wearing his uniform. He wanted to smack his head against the wall at the utter hotness of the entire situation. Tui and _La_, why him?

"Or," she continued, obviously perturbed by his lack of response. "I can just give it back to you now…?"

He desperately wanted to respond to her, but the sight of her standing there, half undressed and looking so adorably shy and embarrassed, was very - and painfully, he noted, glancing down at his trousers - distracting. Spirits, he should have just listened to Eska; waited until the morning come back and collect his things. He forced himself to focus, to remember that if he just strode over and kissed her full on her pretty mouth - which her top teeth were currently biting into, La help him - the way he wanted to there would be serious repercussions. This girl hadn't replaced him without a reason - she could hurt him.

"Uh, it's f-fine," he stumbled over the words, both embarrassed and intrigued by the amused quirk of her lips. "I'll just take it home and wash it. No big deal."

"Alright," she said, wasted no time in peeling the uniform off the rest of the way. He swallowed thickly past the lump in his throat, seeing so much of her smooth skin exposed. While she had cloth bindings to keep her covered, the simple shorts and band around her chest hardly provided any real modesty. Hasook decided that a cold shower was in order as soon as he got home. In fact, he might stop by the showers down the hall.

"Here." Korra folded his uniform up neatly and placed his helmet on top, held them out to him like an offering. He took them. "I'm sorry you got replaced. Where were you tonight?"

"My brother was sick. And don't worry, it's not a huge deal." That was a total lie. He had been beyond pissed off when he heard Shiro Shinobi announce that a replacement waterbender had been found; even more so when he realized that she would be kept on permanently. It had been hours, and though he had cooled off some he was still upset. But he recognized that it wasn't her fault.

Though he'd told her not to worry, Korra's brows furrowed. "Is he okay? I can heal him if he needs it."

He was surprised, at first, by her unexpected gesture, but then again she was the Avatar. She was born to help people. "It's fine - I'm a healer, too. He's resting right now anyway."

Korra nodded and began pulling on her own clothes. Hasook was bothered by this, and was bothered by how much it bothered him. He hadn't known this girl for more than twenty minutes and he was totally ready to take her back to his apartment - _or to the showers, or the broom closet, or even that bench right there_ - and do things to her best left undone to strangers. He tried very hard to ignore the way her top - which looked more like some kind of old fashioned nightshirt, but whatever - hung off her shoulder, but still did little to hide her figure. Her pants weren't helping much, either.

"Well, I'm glad he's doing good." She closed the locker door and tugged on her sealskin boots. "So, I'll see you around?"

"Uh, s-sure." He cursed inwardly. Ten years of controlling his stutter and it chose to appear - of all inopportune times - _now_? Agni, just incinerate him now. "I guess. Y-yeah." He winced. _Just stop talking, idiot. _

The earlier quirk of lip extended into a full-blown smile and she loosed a short, tinkling laugh. She looked at him with her pretty blue eyes and he felt something - aside from awkward arousal - stir in him. He knew he was blushing, just like the stupid, gawky fool he'd been as a preteen. In front of the _Avatar_, no less. _Nice going, Hasook._

Her smile and laugh and pretty eyes were enough to make him forget his brief humiliation, though.

"You're cute," she observed. "Yeah, I'll see you around. Night, Hasook."

Long after she had sauntered out of the locker room, Hasook could still hear her words. _You're cute._ The Avatar thought he was cute. Huh. He could smell her, too, all over his uniform. Feminine sweat and damp earth and thick smoke. It was heady and intoxicating and a clear sign that he was turning into a huge creep. Worse than Tahno from the Wolfbats. He sighed to himself and left the room, ready to just go home and probably wait a while before washing his uniform. Like a creep.

_Yeah, _he thought. _But at least she thinks I'm cute._

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End file.
